Archive for September, 2010

It’s Monday and the crisp air of all has finally made it to Oklahoma, and I’m soakin’ it up – this is how the weather should be everyday! 🙂

Last week I wanted something fun and zesty and so , ta-daa Sirloin Crepes were created in my little kitchen!

Hope you enjoy!

You’ll need to buy crepes, I found these in the produce section of our local grocery store, but I think you can find them in the frozen section.

If you have a grill, I would recommend grilling your sirloin, but since I’m a poor college student living in an apartment I have to use my cast iron skillet on the stove. Either way it still tastes great in these crepes.

Season well with Montreal steak seasoning, salt and pepper and cook to your favorite degree of done-ness. Slice across the grain in small 1/4 – 1/2 inch slices and keep warm.

For the zest of the crepes, you will need to thinly slice 2 small tangerines with the peel on. The thinner you slice them, the better it will be, so use a sharp knife and watch your fingers! (I like it because it adds a hint of the tangerine zest – but if you want less of the zest, you can peel the tangerines half way, or all the way whatever you prefer.)

Slice 1/2 cup of grapes in half. In a medium-size non-stick skillet melt 3 pads of butter and add the fruit. Let simmer and cook down for a few minutes before adding asparagus, salt and pepper.

The smell of this cooking is fantastic! Makes me hungry just writing about it! 🙂

On a plate, lay your crepe flat and ‘hit at in the micro for 20 seconds’ and lay the sliced sirloin diagonally across the middle. Spoon on your veggie/fruit mixture with a spoon so that you good the butter tangerine juice.

Be very careful rolling these, because they tear super easy! But, y’all they taste like nothing you’ve ever tasted before, and make you feel happy when you wipe your plate clean. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this new creation straight from my kitchen. Have a fantastically fun week and enjoy the crisp air of fall.

Good Friday to you all! This week has been a very blessed but extremely busy week for Amy and I. We wonder if it will ever slow down, but I am enjoying every bit of it. Because things have been so very busy my sweet mother offered to send me a recipe to share with all of you! I took advantage of her offer and so this post was thought up by my mamma and pictured by my sister. My family has a very large garden and she is taking full advantage of it. Everything in this recipe is from Mom’s garden except the cube steaks, she bought those at the grocery store. Enjoy this little taste of home!

Pan Fried Steak and Ratatouille
1 egg plant

2 medium zucchini

1 crook neck squash

6 medium tomatoes

onion and garlic to taste
4 small cube steaks.

Slice all vegetables and place in deep pan with a little olive oil. Cook through about 10 minutes, put lid on pan and cook another 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season steak to taste, fry in a small amount of olive oil. Place ratatouille on top of steak. This can be served with many things, but my mom chose cantaloupe, also from her garden.

Pan Fried Steak and Ratatouille

Cube Steaks – $4.12

Total Cost- $4.12 (Serves 4)

Cost Per Plate- $1.03

I hope that your weekend is restful! Amy and I want to be sure that you get to read posts as consistently as possible so for the next few months we will only post on Monday and Friday!

I love to watch what I eat, and try to eat as healthy as possible; and believe it or not, I truly love a great tasting salad. However I am very aggravated that usually salads in most restaurants today equals chicken. Which I think is really unfortunate. So when I wanted a salad but knew I could not go buy one I’d like – I created a fun and super easy salad with one of my favorite proteins 😉

Specialty pre-washed salad is one of the greatest inventions, especially for small town rural America. It brings fresh greens to the country! I love all verities of lettuce. For this salad a romaine variety is my favorite.

I like to fix this plate by plate by layering lettuce that comes packed with grated carrots, sliced radishes, sugar-snap peas and diced green onions. Then top with large-chopped pre-smoked brisket along with crumbled blue cheese tossed with a simple balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. (Kraft makes an awesome sun-dried tomato vinaigrette that is pretty dang tasty too!)

Brisket is not just for barbeque. Smoked brisket from the grocery store is a great way to have fast, easy and yummy protein in the frig. Don’t be afraid to try it in/on many different things- and leave the barbeque sauce in the pantry. Great smoked brisket doesn’t need it. 🙂

Have a fantastic week everyone – and do something fun just for yourself this week!

Well Friday is here and we made it through yet another week! As you could probably guess by the infrequency of our posts it has been a little western around here to say the least. I am excited for my first full weekend to stay home since I came back east the end of July. It will be so nice to finally get all the way unpacked, get my laundry done, homework caught up, Mary Kay caught up and house put together, not to mention I am excited for MY first football game of the season. There is nothing like a Saturday night in Boone Pickens Stadium. This recipe is a very “unique” one and I will admit I had been more than hesitant to try it. Ryan first mentioned it to me in April and it has taken 5 months for me to get up enough nerve to actually try it. You may wonder why… it involves canned cheese and I just couldn’t bring myself to believe that canned cheese could be any kind of good on anything but a tortilla chip. Well… I was wrong. This recipe is quick, easy and delicious. Now, I will tell you that when I listened to Ryan’s instructions over the phone last night and then put them into practice there was a slight miscommunication. See, I made them about the size of a pizza calzone, apparently the “right way” to fix them is to make them the size of your palm. Well as you probably have noticed I don’t cook well is small portions, so it’s no surprise I made them a bit on the large side. So you go ahead and make them whatever size you wish, but I will tell you that they will probably freeze better smaller. Never the less crank up some Eric Church and get to cooking!

In a large skillet brown the ground beef, add the green chillies and RoTel. Drain off excess fat. Next add the “queso” (can cheese). Stir this mixture around and let it condense a bit. While this is reducing, wop and pop your pizza dough. On a large cutting board sprinkle some flour and unroll the dough. For Calzone size Hot Sacks, cut the dough in half. For palm size Hot Sacks cut the dough into fourths. Spoon a 1/4 C of the meat/cheese mixture onto the dough, fold over one side and roll up the edges to seal the deal. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 20 min at 350 degrees (For best results follow the instructions on the dough). Serve hot with a small side salad or freeze to send with the guys for lunch. This simple recipe while rather “unique” is a great way to switch things up from the normal everyday paper sack lunch.

College football season has started and personally I’m pretty excited. No matter your alma matter, there is nothing quite like freezing your britches off at a college football game with thousands of your classmates yelling the fight song at the top of their lungs, especially when coffee is involved. I have been a football fan since I was a little girl that liked the Green Bay packers only because my cousin Matt did and I wanted to be cool like him. This recipe is great for a Saturday of watching college football! Get excited, put on your ORANGE shirt and head to the grill!

DISCLAIMER…. Ryan came up with this. Another one of those just use what you have in the fridge, then it wont cost anything meals. It turned out pretty well, and doesn’t involve spray cheese, so I gave it a try. Rub the flank steak with salt, pepper and creole seasoning. Then let it rest while you slice the vegetables. Place the sliced vegetables in your iron skillet with the butter. Take both the flank steak and the skillet of vegetables to the grill and let cook until the steak is to your desired degree of doneness. Cook the vegetables until they are tender. Slice the steak against the grain, serve and enjoy! Very simple, easy, and filling. Great for an afternoon of football.

Oh my goodness it is September 8th 2010 – school is in full swing and my life has been dominated by meetings! Within the first two weeks of school I had been to 12, and I have two tonight.

There are just so many different things I am passionate about, and know I’ll never be 23 again so want to do as many things as possible. This is something else I have learned from my PawPaw – live life to the fullest and just don’t look back.

One of the greatest things lately is I have my very own furnished kitchen! For my birthday Mimi gave me new Paula Dean copper bottom stainless steel pots and pans, and I cannot wait to cook delicious dishes in the coming months.

Last week on my one day I had time to cook, I invented a tasty new twist on quick chili. As the rain here in Oklahoma is bringing the fall, this twist on comfort food will warm you up and keep you going. Please let me know what you think and what new twists you are coming up with this fall!

Chop the cooked roast, add the entire can of tomatoes and chili seasonings and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes. (Add water if it start to stick) before serving, add the chopped cheese sticks and allow to melt slowly.

In a small saucepan steam asparagus spears for 8-10 min until tender. Drain, and add the rest of the ingredients. Allow butter to melt and shake your saucepan with lid on, so you coat the asparagus. The key to asparagus is not overcooking them. They are better undercooked, than overcooked. So just keep that in mind.

Parmesan toast

1-2 t. butter
Parmesan cheese
2 pieces of bread

Spread soft butter on your piece of bread, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and toast either in the oven or in a toaster oven until bread is toasted and cheese is golden. This is a yummy twist on the normal garlic bread. Same idea, just totally different taste. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this – and it is still Wednesday, even if it is 1o:50 at night. We are striving to be more consistent with posting, please keep the faith, and keep coming back!

Hello Y’all!

Welcome to our corner of the world! Welcome to the inspiration of two ranch girls Amy Brown and Anna-Lisa Giannini and our experiences cooking on a budget with beef while we are going to college and living in town. We want to share with you how easy it is to eat high class, while also eating healthy and enjoying every bite all the while making every dollar count!

We grew up with beef in the freezer, beef always on the table, and made from scratch food for every meal. Life off the ranch has been a challenge in many ways, but one of the hardest adjustments for us was cooking the food we love without breaking the bank.

Buying beef out of the meat case can be a challenge. We are going to share with you some tips we have learned, recipes we have created, and show you how we are able to satisfy homesickness for a while, by just filling our plates.